Chicken Schnitzel (and traditional Austrian Weiner Schnitzel)

When I first went to Israel in 1963-64 and stayed with my cousins Freda and Menashe Ben Baruche at their apartment in Ramat Gan, Freda made this Chicken Schnitzel.  I have been making it ever since. And now my four year old granddaughter loves to help me make it as well as to eat it.

The same recipe with veal is your traditional Austrian Weiner Schnitzel, though many of us don’t eat veal now because of the inhumane way in which calves are raised.

Chicken breasts

Eggs (about one per chicken breast, but it depends upon the size)

Flour (about 2 cups)

Fine bread crumbs (about 2 cups)

Salt and pepper

Dried herbs (e.g., herbes de Province), optional

Oil for frying (peanut or sunflower oil).  I usually fry in a mixture of butter and oil. But do not use olive oil as it does not get hot enough.

Lots of lemon, cut into quarters

• If the chicken breasts are not deboned, remove the bones and the skin and any fat that is on the chicken. [You can use the bones to make a chicken broth. The fat and skin can be saved to render into “smaltz” and “grivenes” – or just discarded. They are not needed for this recipe.] 
• You need to flatten the chicken breasts into pieces that are about ¼ inch thin. If the breasts are very large, I slice the meat to get pieces as wide and as thin as possible. If the breasts are small, it may not be necessary to slice them. In either case, you need to pound the chicken with a mallet (or a similar tool) to get thin slices of meat. You can put the chicken to be pounded between two pieces of waxed paper, which prevents splattering and appeases the minds of those who have a phobia about handling raw chicken. 
• Crack the raw egg on a plate and mix it just a little. You can add a some water if you like to make the egg go farther. 
•  On a second plate, put down one to two cups of flour. 
• On a third plate, put down one to two cups of fine bread crumbs. You can add salt and pepper to the bread crumbs. You can also add some herbs if you like. 
• Now you dip the chicken into the egg, then coat it in flour and shake off any excess, dip it into the egg again, and coat it in the bread crumbs. I usually do all the chicken in egg and flour first, then a second round of egg and bread crumbs. You can add more eggs as you go along if needed. 
•  I stack the breaded chicken on a plate in layers which can be separated with waxed paper if you are not going to cook the schnitzel immediately. (You can prepare the breading and leave the chicken in the refrigerator to cook later.) Otherwise, it is not necessary; you can just stack the pieces on a plate. 
• In a heavy frying pan, melt 2-3 tablespoons of butter and add a similar quantity of oil (or you can use just oil) – this should give you about a ¼ inch of fat in the pan. Let the oil get hot before you start cooking. 
• Fry each of the slices of breaded chicken in the hot oil, turning once, until golden on each side and the chicken is cooked. Depending on how large your pan is and how large your slices, you can fry 3 to 5 pieces at one time, but don’t crowd the pan. The pieces should not overlap each other.  It should not take more than 3-5 minutes to fly a slice. 
• When I take the breaded chicken out of the frying pan, I put the schnitzel on a plate covered with paper towels so get rid of the grease, then transfer them to a serving platter. (I change the paper towels as needed, usually as each new batch comes out of the frying pan.) 
• Repeat until all of the breaded chicken is cooked. You will need to add more butter and oil as you go along, depending on how many slices you have. Try not to burn the chicken by regulating the heat. 
• Serve hot with lots of quartered lemon which people squeeze onto their schnitzel. (This both adds flavor and cuts the grease.)